In order to reduce the clutter in the Board News Section - making it easier for people to see the Board policy announcements without taking away the threads/discussions that popped up around them - the Administration of OrthodoxChristianity.net has decided to create this compilation thread. (Note: I've modified the size of the text in the quotes: I wanted the posts to remain quoted so you can follow the links, but I want them to be more readable than normal quotes.)

Due to the past behavior of certain poster(s), the Administrators, Global Moderators, and Moderators have agreed to adopt the following change in policy regarding posts, to wit:

In order to reduce the potential for any poster from controlling or influencing this site, the leadership of OC.net reserves the right to limit participation from any individual who has been regularly or routinely hijacking threads or otherwise rdistracting posters.

This is not intended to restrict debate or expressions of opinions, but is only intended to assist in the discussion of ideas involving Orthodox Christianity---which is the intent and purpose of this site.

From now on, banners in signatures to other forums are not allowed although you may link to another forum or website in your signature, without comment.

From now on, you may not advertise your other web forum on our forum. Links to threads on other forums are allowed, however, if they are pertinent to discussions here.

Proselytizing people to your jurisdiction is no longer allowed. I don't care if it is the GOA or the ROAC, we don't exist to give spiritual advice, but rather to discuss spiritual matters. There is a healthy distinction. If you feel the need to plug your group then do it by private message.

You may not private message others to solicit them to join your forum, however. We have the ability to read other people's private messages (this is disclosed in the member agreement you sign when joining the forum) and we don't do that usually, but we can, and we will, if we think you are trying to lure people away from our site.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter. From a human standpoint I would be lying if I said that some people in particular did not precipitate this action BUT at the same time there have been others over the past 1.5 years who have done this as well, so it is not just based on a knee-jerk reaction.

Stay tuned for an even more indepth statement on proselytism to be issued soon by all of us Admins.

anastasiosADMIN

Moratorium on Political Discussion in the Public Fora (created "NC" May 8, 2004, updated Oct 27, 2006)

Due to our desire to maintain a primarily religious-centered message board where the participants are relatively friendly to one another, and seeing that the board has of late been flooded with political discussion, some of it good, some of it divisive, we administrators and moderators have decided to issue a one month moratorium on American political discussion and this includes the posting of political news items as the posting of articles can itself be a statement depending on how it is carried out.

So until June 8, 2004, no threads dealing with political issues will be allowed. After that, we will resume a more limited allowance of political discussion.

This does not apply to issues such as Serbs vs. Albanians and other issues facing Orthodox countries. The intent is to stop temporarily discussing Bush vs. Kerry, talk show hosts vs. "the liberals", the "Religious Right", and all assorted things with the intent to give everyone a break and generally bring the tension level down a notch.

For those wondering, the Politics board is a "private" board, which means it is not seen by guests or users who have not signed up for it. If you wish to have access to the board (which is free, of course), just PM one of the Administrators.

Due to some confusion regarding who to petition for access to the Private forums (i.e., the Politics Board as well as the EO/OO Board if/when these posts move towards polemical debates), I wish to clarify the following:

If you want to post in the Private Forums, you must PM Fr George with a message asking to do so.

Some recent petitions were made to others, and no action had yet been taken perhaps because they were assuming I was copied in. So, to prevent such problems:

PM Fr George for access to the Private Forums.

Once again, to clarify things:

Fr George is the one to be PM'ed if you want access to the Private Forums.

Thanks!

Fr ChrisAdmin

Whom to write with questions, concerns, suggestions, complaints, or praise: (usernames updated in this post to reflect current administrative structure - Jan 2010)

Please don't PM me for forum moderating issues as Fr George is in charge of the forum. The best thing to do is try to contact the forum moderator or the GM over that section (Veniamin or Fr. George). Fr George is available for major issues or as an appeal in the unlikely event.

Robert is your man for technical difficulties. If you don't hear back from him within say a day then it's ok to PM me as I tend to know when he is unavailable due to outside constraints and I can assist in letting him know there is a problem.

You can contact me with site-wide concerns or with concerns about relations between this site and other sites, or with content suggestions or contributions. It is theoretically possible to appeal a decision of Fr George to me, but like the Supreme Court, we may not hear it. This is because we have full confidence in Fr George as the head of the forum.

Thank you for your participation in this site! We wouldn't have it without you.

If anyone feels that there is an ad hominem attack or something unwarrented then please, please use the Report to Moderator Button! It is at the bottom of each post on the right hand side. If that does not work for you, then send either a pm to the board's moderator or to Veniamin or Fr. George. We try to catch things that are over the top, but this is a huge forum and we cannot catch everything; furthermore, something may be offencive, but we may not realise it or it may be something special that warrents individual attention. This forum is a community and can only work with full cooperation with everyone. When we see something unaccepable we try to take the neccesary procedure to deal with the situation as to what we judge the gravity amounts to.Thank you.

If you decide to stop posting, we do not delete accounts. There is one exception, and that is if someone is stalking you and using your user account as a way to harass you, we will consider deletion options in this case only. The reason we do not delete accounts is it caused database problems in the past, and we do not want any more database problems. If you choose to stop posting and want it to be obvious, please consider writing "I no longer post on this forum" in your signature line. Thanks for your understanding.

Anastasios and the rest of the team.

Quotes updated to reflect current administrative structure: March 18, 2012

In an attempt to prevent unsolicited [and potentially harmful] advertisements going out to our board members, the administration of Orthodoxchristianity.net requires that all of the below listed activities receive administration approval prior to being posted or sent out either publicly or via private message (PM):

1) Posting of a link/advertisement to any website not related to the ongoing thread discussion. If it is the first topic in the thread, or if the link IS relevant to the conversation at hand, it is required that the poster post a paragraph of text from the article in question into the thread. The poster can then include a DIRECT link to the article in that post below the paragraph of text.

2) Links to one's own blog as a means of advertisement, without citing the relevant part of the blog that the author is quoting, are not allowed. However, alerting users to another blog is acceptable as long as it is relevant to a thread.

*Note: links in your signature are permissible and do not require authorization

3) Posting of links advertising any webfora, unless the link is made under the following conditions: a) The link is made to discuss a topic referred to on the other webfora. b) Permission from the author of the post on the 'linked to' webfora is received for this use.

Obviously, if you are discussing these terms in their true and historical sense then there is no problem using the term. What is being rejected is using this as a label to counter other members of the forum. As always, this does not imply that the board takes a position itself on these positions; this is merely a request to use civilized terminology in dialog on this forum.

Being asked to provide clarification, references, or "proof" by a moderator in an official manner:

Occasionally a moderator will make a formal request (i.e. in a colored font, or whatnot, explicitly stating that they're asking as a mod and not a user) for clarification of a point, references to support a point, or "proof" of an assertion made in the course of discussion. Sometimes this request will come with a "time limit" or other stipulation requesting expediency. These requests are made in order to facilitate open and honest discussion, without knowingly or unknowingly propagating false information. Do not be offended by such requests, but do make all haste in fulfilling them, in order to allow productive and edifying discussion to continue.

We are just trying to meet our responsibility of fairness and remember we will all face the ultimate judge, Christ himself. We really want to make sure that our site is not responsible for advertising mistruth whenever possible. No one on our moderation team is assuming anything you have said is not true. It is just confusing to try and figure out all the details and we are trying to be cautious. This is how Orthodox people are supposed to take all things, with a discerning spirit. Thank you for your understanding. We value your input on this site.

Just a reminder that we can and will ask posters to identify themselves (usually privately but sometimes publicly) if claims they are making do not seem to fit in with other facts or the style of their posting, etc. If a moderator asks you to identify yourself, and you choose not to, moderation will begin. This is because we generally only ask for identification of posters for very specific reasons and so any such request should be considered "quite serious."

Many Ukrainian Catholics refer to themselves as "Orthodox Christians." Such is the case with the big Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral here in Pittsburgh where they use Church Slavonic. They use the terminology to such an extent that it took many immigrants a long time to realize that these "Orthodox churches" were not the same as the "Orthodox Church" in Old Country. In fact, even in old country many simple peasants supposedly did not realize the change had been made because the churches did not change any of the "forms" of Orthodoxy.

So basically by changing the rule, have we made this forum equally dedicated to those churches that refer to themselves as an Orthodox Church: The Orthodox-Catholic Churches (Eastern Catholics), the Oriental Orthodox Church, and the "Orthodox Church"(Chalcedonians), vagantes, etc.

I am not totally against this, but note that there are separate boards already for those of the "Byzantine/Greek Rite". I think it would be better to say in the rules what we mean by "the Orthodox Church". Otherwise, we could get into the same petty discussion, where someone asks what the Orthodox Church teaches, and a Greek Catholic often comes in, answers, and expects us to accept that his teaching is the "Orthodox Church's" position, etc. Someone replies to him that the "Byzantine Rite" isn't Orthodox, he points to the rule's vagueness, etc., and the confusion builds. Maybe this isn't bad though. Your call.

Just to be clear, there has not been any change in the forum's longstanding rules. What was changed was an ambiguity that was leading to one poster misinterpreting the policy, even though there are other places which clearly state what the policy is and has been. This is one reason we have been discussing a revision and streamlining of the forum rules, so that such confusion will not exist.

To be clear, this site exists as an Orthodox Forum where people who identify themselves as Orthodox are given a place to discuss things pertinent to the Orthodox Faith. In practicality, this means that there is a broad approach to allowing people from the Eastern Orthodox "Majority", the Eastern Orthodox "Traditionalists", and the Oriental Orthodox "Non-Chalcedonians" to post on topics relating to Orthodoxy. It should be emphasized that it is the policy of this site that no one is required to affirm that any of the other groups are canonical or Orthodox, but rather the purpose of the broad approach is to allow broad discussion on topics that in academic discourse are labeled "Orthodox studies."

People who do not fit this broad, academic definition of Orthodox, such as Roman Catholics, Protestants, non-Christians, and others, are permitted to post here and to offer positive contributions to the site and corrections when their faith traditions are misrepresented. They are not, however, permitted to attempt to bring people to other faiths.

Fr AnastasiosAdministrator (with Fr Chris's agreement)

Eastern Rite Catholics may have called themselves Orthodox for some time but regardless of nomenclature, they are not recognized by the Orthodox as Orthodox. Vagantes are likewise not recognized by the Orthodox as Orthodox. With the Eastern Orthodox patriarchates, Eastern Orthodox Old Calendarists, and Oriental Orthodox/Non-Chalcedonians, there are varying degrees of opinion between the three groups, such that a broad discussion forum about Orthodoxy would lead to discussion on topics concerning all three groups, and we wanted to create a place where all three would be welcome to post, within the limits of civil discourse. We have no interest in broadening the scope to include Eastern Catholics, who are in submission to the Pope and have adopted many Roman Catholic innovations, or vagantes, who have no way of being measured or quantified. We have to draw the line somewhere, and that is how we have chosen to draw it. For discussion of Eastern Rite Catholicism, one could see the forum at http://www.byzcath.org.

Naturally, Byzantine Catholics and vagantes are welcome to post here, but they have to recognize that they are on an Orthodox forum, which does not accept that they are "Orthodox in communion with Rome." Latin Catholics and Protestants and anyone else of good will is also welcome to post, as long as they understand the purpose of the forum and the boundaries.

When linking news articles/stories, please only copy the first paragraph or at most two as an intro text, with a link to the original, so we can obviate any accusations of exceeding "fair use" allowances in terms of copyright.

We are now lifting the moratorium on discussions of homosexuality on OCnet. The reason for the moratorium was originally because in our efforts to provide an open place of discussion, more often than not, the traditional morality of the Orthodox Church was being brought into question, even by those who consider themselves Orthodox Christians. This was understandably causing other posters to become gravely concerned, and the moderators were being burdened with more than the average amount of reported posts. A complete shutdown of the topic was deemed necessary.

Now that we have had a sufficient amount of time to disengage from the topic as a community, and hopefully had time individually to reflect on the subject, we feel it is time to lift the moratorium. We are not going to return to the status quo ante bellum, however; from this point forward, the following must be stated up front:

1) The administration of OCnet fully supports the Orthodox Church's position that homosexual relations are sinful.

2) Discussion will again be allowed openly, but those expressing positions contrary to the received tradition of the Orthodox Church will need to respect the fact that the Orthodox Church's teaching is not under question, and that their positions are at variance with the consensus of the Church. What this means practically is that anyone expressing the position that active homosexual practices can somehow be reconciled with the Orthodox Church's teaching will be allowed to offer this position if they do so respectfully and with the understanding that their position is novel. Anyone arguing vocally or in a belligerent way that the Orthodox Church's teaching is wrong or that it will be changed at some point of the future will be moderated per the normal moderatorial procedure in place.

The goal here is to affirm the traditional Orthodox teaching, not forcibly subject Orthodox Christians on an Orthodox forum to novel opinions, while allow discussion on a topic which for whatever reason engenders more than normally passionate debate and discord.

We state unequivocally that those who have a homosexual orientation, if it can be scientifically determined to be such, or who struggle with a temptation towards homosexuality, are accepted and loved as brothers and sisters, and are welcome in the Church, even if they have failings as do we all. Our upholding of the traditional Orthodox position as the website administration does not seek to discount individuals and their real struggles.

OC net Admins.

Logged

"As the sparrow flees from a hawk, so the man seeking humility flees from an argument". St John Climacus

The moratorium on discussing homosexuality on this forum has been lifted. Enclosed is the text of this statement. It is expected that all users of OC.net will read and familiarize themselves with this below statement, as well as all of the posts in this Board Policies thread:

Quote

Dear Forum Members,

We are now lifting the moratorium on discussions of homosexuality on OCnet. The reason for the moratorium was originally because in our efforts to provide an open place of discussion, more often than not, the traditional morality of the Orthodox Church was being brought into question, even by those who consider themselves Orthodox Christians. This was understandably causing other posters to become gravely concerned, and the moderators were being burdened with more than the average amount of reported posts. A complete shutdown of the topic was deemed necessary.

Now that we have had a sufficient amount of time to disengage from the topic as a community, and hopefully had time individually to reflect on the subject, we feel it is time to lift the moratorium. We are not going to return to the status quo ante bellum, however; from this point forward, the following must be stated up front:

1) The administration of OCnet fully supports the Orthodox Church's position that homosexual relations are sinful.

2) Discussion will again be allowed openly, but those expressing positions contrary to the received tradition of the Orthodox Church will need to respect the fact that the Orthodox Church's teaching is not under question, and that their positions are at variance with the consensus of the Church. What this means practically is that anyone expressing the position that active homosexual practices can somehow be reconciled with the Orthodox Church's teaching will be allowed to offer this position if they do so respectfully and with the understanding that their position is novel. Anyone arguing vocally or in a belligerent way that the Orthodox Church's teaching is wrong or that it will be changed at some point of the future will be moderated per the normal moderatorial procedure in place.

The goal here is to affirm the traditional Orthodox teaching, not forcibly subject Orthodox Christians on an Orthodox forum to novel opinions, while allow discussion on a topic which for whatever reason engenders more than normally passionate debate and discord.

We state unequivocally that those who have a homosexual orientation, if it can be scientifically determined to be such, or who struggle with a temptation towards homosexuality, are accepted and loved as brothers and sisters, and are welcome in the Church, even if they have failings as do we all. Our upholding of the traditional Orthodox position as the website administration does not seek to discount individuals and their real struggles.

OC net Admins.

« Last Edit: September 15, 2010, 08:39:16 AM by FrChris »

Logged

"As the sparrow flees from a hawk, so the man seeking humility flees from an argument". St John Climacus

RE: your post, "In short, it isn't a level playing field. I'd say very few of the Orthodox posters want it to be a level playing field, because they want neo-conservative Catholics to have the advantage."

You're right, it is not a level playing field, and probably never will be. Catholics of *any* variety are at a distinct disadvantage here, especially when the likes of ialmisry are able to get away with what they do. That, however, does not mean that you (or anyone else for that matter, myself included) have to lower yourself to their level of nastiness, intractability, arrogance, and knowing it all.

JM

J Michael, I would prefer if you would not send me private messages. Thanks in advance.

You're welcome!

And here I thought private messages were supposed to be **private**. That was meant to be a message from *me* to *you*, and not for public consumption!

The moderation team, after much deliberation on this subject, has come to the agreement that as a board we would request that ANY and ALL posters NOT publish Private Message material, unless they ask for the other person's consent to publish said material in a public manner.

We would also like to point out that in the Message system there is an "ignore" button/feature which works very well to mitigate getting messages from unwanted posters. This is always an option, for everyone.

When someone is placed on a warning status (Warned, Post Moderation, Muted), the moderator has the option of selecting a number of days duration (between 1 and 99). At the conclusion of that period of time, the warning manager software automatically downgrades the person to the next lower warning level for the same duration as the original warning.

So, for example, if someone is "Muted" (no posting) for 90 days, then at the conclusion of 90 days the person's status will automatically become "Moderated" (i.e. their posts must be approved by a mod before they go public) for 90 days, and at the conclusion of those days the person's status will automatically become "Warned" (i.e. "green dot" warning status with no practical limitations) for 90 days.

The same cannot be said for banning. Since banning is done through a parallel system (the warning manager automatically reduces status at a maximum of 99 days), banning is permanent (i.e. it must be manually reduced) - there is no automatic reduction.

Current users with full (i.e. no warning, "Warned") or limited posting privileges (i.e. Post Moderated) are not to post material as a surrogate for users with limited or no posting privileges (i.e. Post Moderated, Muted, or Banned).

If the material is a prayer request for the prayer forum - again, a request, not a response - then the request should be forwarded to Fr. George, who must give approval before it is posted.

1. Any clergy of the mainline (i.e. non vagante) EO, OO, and EO/OO Old Calendarist Churches shall be called by their proper title or salutation, or a respectable abbreviation of such. Extreme abbreviations are only appropriate for institutions or large groups (i.e. MP for "Moscow Patriarchate" not "Patriarch of Moscow"). All such references should be made with respect following proper decorum (i.e. no inclusion of pejoratives or other personal attacks).

E.g. When referring to the current Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, "Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens," "Archbishop Ieronymos," "His Beatitude Ieronymos of Athens," "His Beatitude Ieronymos," and "the Archbishop of Athens," etc., would all be appropriate; "Ieronymos of Athens," "Ieronymos," or "Jeronimo" would not be appropriate.

2. Any man formerly a clergyman of one of the groups named in #1 who has been removed from clerical status without the dispute of or transfer to the other 2 groups shall not be referred to as an active clergyman, but either by their lay name, or as a former clergyman. Again, such references should be made without pejoratives or personal attacks.

E.g. If a man named Paul Smith was defrocked from the priesthood (for abusing children, preaching heresy, etc.), you can call him "Mr. Paul Smith," "former priest Paul Smith," or even "disgraced former priest Paul Smith," but not, "Paul Smith the rapist" or "the heretic Paul Smith," etc.

3. Any person who is a clergyman of a group not listed in #1 can either be referred to by their official clerical title, or by a corresponding title appropriate with their position; however, this must be done without pejorative, maintaining a minimal state of decorum.

E.g. The current Roman (Latin) Catholic Pope of Rome can be referred to as Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Benedict, the Pope of Rome, etc.. It would not be appropriate to call him Cardinal Ratzinger (since that is no longer his title in the RCC), Joseph Ratzinger, the Heretic, Joe, or any other pejorative, diminutive, or other form of insult.

4. Defrocked clergy who go to other jurisdictions/groups should be treated with usual courtesies; those who do not go to other groups shall be treated as laymen/monks.

As for vagantes, we can use the most basic definition: groups with only 1-2 bishops.

Logged

Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl. ~Frederick the Great

Please check out the rule that was just posted on the Rules section (and I am also copying below for your convenience). Please be beware. Second Chance

* Obscenity, Blasphemy, Profanity, et al. -- Obscenities and blasphemies are not permitted anywhere on the forum. To accommodate strong polemics on the Private Forum, we will permit a few of the stronger scatological (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/scatological) profanities there. These words, however, will be permitted ONLY on the Private Forum; their use on the Public Forum is still forbidden. Other words such as "damn" and "hell", when used as expletives, will be permitted on all Public and Private boards as long as they're not used as part of a blasphemy. We reserve the right to moderate some language not on the list if it is way outside the bounds of common decency. If you're not sure about the appropriateness of a word or expression, please PM a moderator before using it on the forum.

Except for "BS," all acronyms (STFU, WTF, etc.), abbreviations (F-off, etc.), and semi-censored versions (F**K, BULLS**T, etc.) of forbidden words are also forbidden. Quite simply, harsh, obscene, or foul language is not appropriate for an Orthodox Christian message board. Our Lord is present even in the forums and we don't feel like hosting your foul language on our servers--free expression is one thing, but on a Christian message board you will have to act like a Christian even in a theoretically unmoderated sub-section of the board.

Please be advised that the rule concerning Clean images has been revised from "Clean Images/Media -- Please keep all posted images and media "clean". Pornography or other distasteful images or videos will constitute a ban."

To: "Clean Images/Media -- Please keep all posted images and media "clean". Pornography or other distasteful images or videos will be deleted and trigger disciplinary actions ranging from warning to outright ban."

* Links -- Posters are not permitted to post links to websites designed for the commercial purposes of selling without explicit permission from an administrator. Other activities that require explicit administrator approval are as follows: advertising, soliciting donations for any purpose, soliciting votes to help an individual or organization win a cash prize, and soliciting signatures on a petition. This is not an exhaustive list, so our admins have the authority to add to this list at any time. Permission to post any of the aforementioned links can be obtained by sending a pm to Fr. George. Offending posts will be immediately deleted. Posting of a link to any website not related to the ongoing thread discussion is not allowed. If it is the first topic in the thread, or if the link IS relevant to the conversation at hand, it is required that the poster post a paragraph of text from the article in question into the thread. The poster can then include a DIRECT link to the article in that post, below the paragraph of text.